London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Islington 1904
Forty-ninth annual report on the health and sanitary condition of the Borough of Islington
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129 [1904
INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN THE PUBLIC ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS.
Notifiable Diseases—It was found that 757 children, who suffered
from one or other of the notifiable infectious diseases, were scholars attending
the public elementary schools; and that 473 scholars, who, although themselves
not ill, lived in houses in which one of these diseases was present, and
who consequently were excluded from school until the patient had been either
removed to a hospital or had recovered, and the premises had been disinfected.
The proportion of cases amongst scholars attending these schools to the
total number of cases that was notified was 39 per cent.
The scholars who were attacked suffered from the following diseases:—
| Scarlet Fever | 571 |
| Diphtheria | 138 |
| Enteric Fever | 29 |
| Other notifiable diseases | 20 |
| Total | 757 |
It will be seen from the following statement that these figures as a whole are an improvement on those of preceding years:—
| Small Pox. | Scarlet Fever. | Diphtheria. | Enteric Fever. | Other Diseases. | Total scholars attacked. | Proportion to every 100 cases notified. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 | 3 | 842 | 355 | 28 | 12 | 1,240 | 32.4 |
| 1897 | — | 753 | 267 | 38 | 12 | 1,070 | 36.8 |
| 1898 | — | 640 | 206 | 57 | 8 | 891 | 36.9 |
| 1899 | — | 725 | 290 | 61 | 11 | 1,087 | 36.9 |
| 1900 | 1 | 547 | 219 | 64 | 13 | 914 | 40.2 |
| 1901 | — | 669 | 438 | 72 | 32 | 1,211 | 42.5 |
| 1902 | 14 | 664 | 405 | 64 | 34 | 1,181 | |
| 1903 | — | 507 | 216 | 35 | 16 | 774 | 45.3 |
| 1904 | — | 571 | 138 | 29 | 20 | 757 | 39.0 |
It is particularly satisfactory to notice in this statement that there has
been a fairly general decrease in the return from nearly all the diseases, although
it is true that there has been a slight increase in the Scarlet Fever cases in the
schools; nevertheless since 1896 the general tendency has been downwards. It
will be observed that in the last column the proportion between the number of
scholars attacked and the total number of notified cases does not vary very
much, 4 to 5 per cent., although in one of the eight years mentioned the per-
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